during the summer of 1984, the sunshine city of st. petersburg, florida, becomes the hunting ground for a violent rapist and killer named james dusty rhodes. once a person makes themselves isolated, they become prey. he moves to st. petersburg after raping and killing a woman in colorado. a month after he gets to town, he rapes a woman at knifepoint. police don t know it yet, but rhodes is just getting started. we re dealing with a very, very disturbed person. i didn t waste any time with a rouse. i didn t care to have a rouse. i chose the force route. because? because i was on a mission, a mission that i felt like force was adequate. being a predator means that
for years. i know what it was like to be sad, to be put down, harmed, hurt, in some cases injured. nobody likes to be hurt. although she admits to yelling, his mother says she s a loving parent who never abuses him and never even suspects that his stepfather does. rhodes leaves home as a teenager and starts working in bars and strip clubs. he s arrested as a teenager for grand theft auto, but the charges are dropped. eventually, he is placed in a group home. he marries at 19 after serving time in prison for armed robbery. by the time rhodes is living in st. petersburg at age 24, his anger toward women takes over his life. he s evolved into a violent sexual predator. i wasn t conscious of how this is affecting anybody while i m doing it. that s the scary part.
at night when i got home, they were generally except for in one case asleep. i would sneak in. they had no clue. i would sneak it, realizing after the fact that i m covered in blood, in two cases, and i need to hide what i m doing or i m going to have issues here. his sadistic spree of attacks begins on a snowy night in colorado springs december 7th, 1982. rhodes is in his car in a shopping mall parking lot, waiting for his wife to get off work. i m there to pick up my wife. i ve been drinking all day again. i ve been at a strip joint all day again. and i ve had sex on my mind all day again. my wife s not there. and then i see another woman walk out from a store directly in front of where my wife works at. snowing real, real hard. and she walks between her car and mine.
sex and violence come together in one s development. it s not that at 15 or 20 years of age someone snaps and decides that rape is sexually gratifying. it s an evolutionary process and it starts at a very early age. and if there is the presence of traits of psychopathy, that could be genetic. but you also have nature-nurture. what kind of environment is the individual raised in? how are they treated emotionally, mentally, physically? life for rhodes is difficult from the start. when he is 1 1/2 years old, his biological father is sent to prison for auto theft. his mother remarries an army man and rhodes and his siblings are constantly on the move. rhodes says he is physically abused by his stepfather and emotionally abused by a mother who didn t love him. but he singles out his relationship with his mother as being particularly hostile, fueling a lifelong anger toward women. i got upset with my mother
again, he returns home to his wife and two daughters and conceals his crime. once the sexual assault was completed, you left the residence. did you take anything with you? no. did you go back to your home? directly to my house and hid. i would go home, clean myself up as quick as i could and just clam up and stay at home as long as i could. the victim reports the rape to the police. but even with a description, rhodes blends in so well, he s not an obvious suspect. the most chilling is actually james rhodes, if you were to meet him, would seem like just a normal guy, everyday guy, the guy next door, a guy you could like. but inside him, there is danger. it s scary what s in there. rhodes is soon back on the streets, looking for more targets.